Following that simple test, I’ve found that my writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things I keep out that shouldn’t be there.I’ve added one more question to the test:

4. Why should the reader care; what’s in it for them?

This last question is to nudge the reader’s curiosity along to continue reading. The author of On Writing Well, William Zinsser, says #4 is to cajole with freshness, or novelty, or paradox, or humor, or purpose -- with an unusual idea, an interesting fact, or a question -- something to make the reader smile and linger on what you wrote.So this blog is a reminder to try and write even the most mundane message in a clear and direct way without being pompous or pretentiousness. That’s where your humanity and warmth will cause people to always want to read what you wrote and be more likely to positively respond.- DebraP.S. If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me.Photo by Mark Hunter]]>Effective CommunicationThu, 13 Nov 2014 15:19:27 +0000